Nia Vardalos

The wedding's out of the way and the honeymoon's over. It's time to get on with My Big Fat Greek Life. The transition from being the biggest-grossing independent movie ever ($300 million-plus and counting) to a weekly TV series could be as sobering as settling down into mundane life is for newlyweds. Already there are ominous signs for the CBS sitcom. The most dire is the fact that the network is either unwilling or unable to provide a pilot of the premiere for critical review. Three noteworthy examples of shows withheld from critics are AfterMASH, Life With Lucy and Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories.

The surprise success of the indie romantic comedy My Big Fat Greek Wedding was one of those rare movie occurrences no one could have designed or predicted. Which is precisely why Nia Vardalos' latest top lining effort, My Life in Ruins, is doomed from the start: In attempting to replicate the appeal of Wedding and recycle a number of now-familiar elements, the new movie - about an embittered Greek-American tour guide's search for love and happiness - feels like warmed-over souvlaki. Some fans of the original may line up for seconds, but this comedy will hold a decidedly more modest allure.

Nia Vardalos was once, not too long ago, a struggling actress and writer dismissed by Hollywood for being too ethnic, too fat -- too different. One Big Fat Greek Wedding later, she is an everywoman powerhouse, a symbol of the great, heretofore untapped market of women of all ages and sizes who are eager to see entertainment made by someone with whom they can actually identify. So it is remarkable indeed that the first thing you notice about Vardalos, 41, is just how extraordinary this icon of ordinariness is. Handling a flurry of press at an Aventura resort the day her new movie, Connie and Carla, was to open at the Palm Beach International Film Festival, Vardalos was gorgeously coiffed and attired -- and practically statuesque, thanks to some truly fabulous pink Marc Jacobs platforms.

Nia Vardalos was once, not too long ago, a struggling actress and writer dismissed by Hollywood for being too ethnic, too fat -- too different. One Big Fat Greek Wedding later, she is an everywoman powerhouse, a symbol of the great, heretofore untapped market of women of all ages and sizes who are eager to see entertainment made by someone with whom they can actually identify. So it is remarkable indeed that the first thing you notice about Vardalos, 41, is just how extraordinary this icon of ordinariness is. Handling a flurry of press at an Aventura resort the day her new movie, Connie and Carla, was to open at the Palm Beach International Film Festival, Vardalos was gorgeously coiffed and attired -- and practically statuesque, thanks to some truly fabulous pink Marc Jacobs platforms.

The surprise success of the indie romantic comedy My Big Fat Greek Wedding was one of those rare movie occurrences no one could have designed or predicted. Which is precisely why Nia Vardalos' latest top lining effort, My Life in Ruins, is doomed from the start: In attempting to replicate the appeal of Wedding and recycle a number of now-familiar elements, the new movie - about an embittered Greek-American tour guide's search for love and happiness - feels like warmed-over souvlaki. Some fans of the original may line up for seconds, but this comedy will hold a decidedly more modest allure.

In college, several friends and acquaintances told me off and on, "You really should have your own one-woman show." People found my company hilarious, which was always a little irritating because I wasn't trying to be funny. I was simply making statements about life. My life. What did it say about me that people found my expression of family foibles and personal paranoia to be the funniest thing going? Well, I wasn't going to expose my family and myself to public laughter. Besides, who'd pay for such a thing?

The limo pulled up and Nia Vardalos hopped out, all big, phat Greek smiles. The star of the smash comedy My Big Fat Greek Wedding officially kicked off the Palm Beach International Film Festival on Thursday, a day before her follow-up film, Connie and Carla, hits theaters across the country. The new comedy features Vardalos dolled up in drag and hiding from hit men. It premiered at Muvico Parisian 20 in CityPlace, where the traditional red carpet was rolled out. "Look, there's the Greek wedding girl," onlookers said as they spotted Vardalos, who arrived with Connie and Carla director Michael Lembeck and looked far from homely in a sexy camisole, white pantsuit with aqua pinstripes and a clutch purse.

A couple of years ago, a Hollywood agent gave actress Nia Vardalos a tip to help her find work. He suggested that she change her name to Vardalez and market herself as a Puerto Rican. "I told him: `I don't think so. I'm Greek, aren't there any Greek parts?'" Vardalos recalled this week. "I've been the Greek girl all my life, and I didn't want to change." Today, Vardalos is having the last laugh, and it is louder and richer than she ever dreamed. The movie she wrote and starred in, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, is the hit of the summer and one of the most profitable independent films ever made.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding has already done the almost unimaginable. The $5 million film exploded into the highest-grossing independent production ever: a quarter-billion dollars in the bank and still going strong. Because of this, its next trick might be even more difficult: translating the concept into a weekly CBS sitcom, My Big Fat Greek Life, which will premiere Feb. 24 with almost impossibly high expectations. With a few notable exceptions, such as M*A*S*H and The Odd Couple, movie knockoffs have a dismal record as TV series.

If it seems incongruous to open a film festival known for its focus on American independent cinema with a movie as defiantly mainstream as Universal Pictures' Connie and Carla, you have to consider the star and screenwriter involved. Nia Vardalos became something approaching a household name after her first feature, a little something called My Big Fat Greek Wedding, was released in 2002. And where did South Florida audiences get to see the insanely profitable and beloved romantic comedy for the very first time?

The limo pulled up and Nia Vardalos hopped out, all big, phat Greek smiles. The star of the smash comedy My Big Fat Greek Wedding officially kicked off the Palm Beach International Film Festival on Thursday, a day before her follow-up film, Connie and Carla, hits theaters across the country. The new comedy features Vardalos dolled up in drag and hiding from hit men. It premiered at Muvico Parisian 20 in CityPlace, where the traditional red carpet was rolled out. "Look, there's the Greek wedding girl," onlookers said as they spotted Vardalos, who arrived with Connie and Carla director Michael Lembeck and looked far from homely in a sexy camisole, white pantsuit with aqua pinstripes and a clutch purse.

If it seems incongruous to open a film festival known for its focus on American independent cinema with a movie as defiantly mainstream as Universal Pictures' Connie and Carla, you have to consider the star and screenwriter involved. Nia Vardalos became something approaching a household name after her first feature, a little something called My Big Fat Greek Wedding, was released in 2002. And where did South Florida audiences get to see the insanely profitable and beloved romantic comedy for the very first time?

The wedding's out of the way and the honeymoon's over. It's time to get on with My Big Fat Greek Life. The transition from being the biggest-grossing independent movie ever ($300 million-plus and counting) to a weekly TV series could be as sobering as settling down into mundane life is for newlyweds. Already there are ominous signs for the CBS sitcom. The most dire is the fact that the network is either unwilling or unable to provide a pilot of the premiere for critical review. Three noteworthy examples of shows withheld from critics are AfterMASH, Life With Lucy and Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories.

In college, several friends and acquaintances told me off and on, "You really should have your own one-woman show." People found my company hilarious, which was always a little irritating because I wasn't trying to be funny. I was simply making statements about life. My life. What did it say about me that people found my expression of family foibles and personal paranoia to be the funniest thing going? Well, I wasn't going to expose my family and myself to public laughter. Besides, who'd pay for such a thing?

My Big Fat Greek Wedding has already done the almost unimaginable. The $5 million film exploded into the highest-grossing independent production ever: a quarter-billion dollars in the bank and still going strong. Because of this, its next trick might be even more difficult: translating the concept into a weekly CBS sitcom, My Big Fat Greek Life, which will premiere Feb. 24 with almost impossibly high expectations. With a few notable exceptions, such as M*A*S*H and The Odd Couple, movie knockoffs have a dismal record as TV series.

A couple of years ago, a Hollywood agent gave actress Nia Vardalos a tip to help her find work. He suggested that she change her name to Vardalez and market herself as a Puerto Rican. "I told him: `I don't think so. I'm Greek, aren't there any Greek parts?'" Vardalos recalled this week. "I've been the Greek girl all my life, and I didn't want to change." Today, Vardalos is having the last laugh, and it is louder and richer than she ever dreamed. The movie she wrote and starred in, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, is the hit of the summer and one of the most profitable independent films ever made.

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